Rowan Willow
by Mrs. Shemar Moore 101010
Summary: Hotch s little sister returns from years of working abroad and stays with Aaron for a while. Rossi should know better than to get involved with Hotch s kid sister, but he can t resist. RossixOC. Rating may or may not change, not sure yet.
1. Chapter 1

Most of the members of the BAU team were just getting back from their lunch break when a woman with strawberry blond, almost red, hair walked into the bullpen. The woman was slightly taller than average and had skin and features that made it seem like she was made of porcelain. She was thin, but was also very curvy and attractive.

She looked a bit fragile, and very prim-and-proper, but this appearance was a bit ironic considering her personality. She was passionate, and committed to helping with an array of world problems that were important to her. She was stubborn, and more than willing to get dirty and work hard if it would help to improve someone else`s life. The woman looked half her age, despite her conservative clothing and prim-and-proper look. She walked up to Hotch`s office with an air of confidence that most people would never attain. She knocked on his door, but only waited for a moment or two before she walked into the empty office. He wasn`t back from his lunch break yet.

Rossi saw the entire team looking up toward Hotch`s office with curiosity. He opened his office door and looked over just in time to see the woman emerge.

"Can I help you?" he asked, sounding more demanding than polite.

"Dave?" she asked with a smile on her face, her voice wasn`t as soft as anyone would have expected from this fragile-looking woman, but it wasn`t harsh. It was a sweet and caring voice, sprinkled with intensity.

"Yes..." he thought for a moment. Who was this? "I`m sorry, I don`t-"

"Rowan." She was greeted by a thoughtful look, "I`m Aaron`s little sister. We met when he first joined the BAU."

"Oh, I`m sorry. I didn`t recognize you," he said, now sounding more friendly, "Aaron said you`ve been working in Africa."

"I was. I`ve been working for a human rights group in Darfur for the last five years. Just got back today."

"Why don`t you come wait with me until Aaron gets back from lunch?" he offered.

"Sure," she led the way into his office and didn`t wait for him to ask her to sit.

She smiled up at him as he followed her in, leaving the door open. He sat directly in front of her on his desk.

"So how have things been in the BAU? Aaron`s not _too _stressed, is he?"

"I don`t think so," he smiled at her. He had forgotten how beautiful she was; in fact, he wasn`t even sure he had noticed when he first met her. Back then he was still infatuated with his soon-to-be second wife.

"I heard you left the BAU for a while. I read half of one of your books, but I left it with a man in Cambodia who wanted to read it when I left for Ethiopia."

"Well I`ll have to get you another copy," he suggested.

She smiled at him, but didn`t say anything. Truth-be-told, she didn`t see much reason to learn about the psychology of criminals unless you work for the BAU, not that there was anything wrong with reading for fun, but she wasn`t all that interested. After all of the cruelty that she had seen, she didn`t want to spend her free time reading about evil people.

"So are you here for a vacation or permanently?" Rossi interrupted her thoughts.

"Permanently. According to my former boss, 'the organization can`t ensure the safety of such a reckless woman." She sounded incredibly bitter.

"Oh?" he looked at her questioningly, wanting more details.

She sighed, "They were... going to rape a little girl," she closed her eyes to get the image out of her head, "and when I stepped in, they went after me instead. She got away though, so it was worth it."

He shook his head sadly, "I`m sorry."

She shrugged, trying, like always, to make it seemed like it didn`t bother her.

"They said that I was a liability and fired me. So now I`m back here. Hopefully Aaron will let me stay with him for a while, until I figure out what to do."

She turned and saw Aaron walking up the few stairs toward his office; she stood up and smiled at Rossi one last time before going to meet her older brother. He looked shocked to see her, and seemed even more shocked when she ran up and hugged him before he had a chance to even process that she was there. He hadn`t seen her in years, and here she was, out of the blue. It wasn`t like her to call and warn him, but still it was a shock.

"Hey," he said, finally smiling. He led her into his office and closed the door. She asked about Jack and they talked for a while and then she repeated her story to him. His smile was replaced by a furious look and clenched fists.

"There were eight of them..." she added, "I couldn`t really fight them off. I mean, I tried of course, but I couldn`t. I don`t really know what I`m going to do now, but I was wondering if I could stay with you for a little while?"

"Of course," he replied.

She kissed him on the cheek. "So, when do I get to meet the rest of the team?"

He smiled weakly. He knew his sister, she wasn`t going to admit that what happened had affected her, but it had.

"Right now," he replied. He held her hand and saw her shiver at the touch. He thought that she should talk to someone, a professional, but he knew that she`d never go for it.

They walked out of the office hand-in-hand and got suspicious looks from the team. Once he introduced her as his sister though, everyone`s demeanor changed from curious to friendly. Morgan checked her out, which made her uncomfortable. She noticed that since the attack, she was suddenly uncomfortable with men looking at her. She mentally told herself to get over it, and to stop suspecting the worst in people.


	2. Chapter 2

Rowan had taken Aaron`s car back to his house. She had to ask where the guest room was, because she`d never been there before. He told her, and she piled her stuff in there. She unpacked a bit, then sat on the couch with Homer`s The Oddessey. She was a big fan of books that most people would never even consider reading for fun. Her favorite book since she was twelve was Moby Dick.

She looked at the time and realized that she had been reading for hours, and it was time to go pick up Aaron from work, since she had taken his car. In the car on the way home, he made the mistake of trying to get her to talk about the attack that ruined her career. He said she should go to a therapist.

"I`m not crazy Aaron!" she almost yelled.

"I know," he said calmly, not looking from the road, "but you`ve been through a lot. I just think it might help."

She shook her head, and when he glanced at her, he saw an unbelievable amount of pain in her eyes. They didn`t talk for the last few minutes home. When they parked, she walked inside with him. Jack was with Haley`s parents, so the house was quiet. He sat on the couch and turned on the television. She walked into her new room, put on purple shorts and a gray cami, then grabbed something Aaron didn`t know she had: her razor blade. She`d been using it for less than a week, but was already feeling as though she depended on it, as though she were addicted.

She went to the bathroom, which happened to be right behind where Aaron was sitting. She put the toilet`s lid down, and took her shorts off and threw them aside, all in one fluid motion. She was rushing. She hadn`t been able to cut on the plane or since she`d arrived. That`s what made her know it was bad; she couldn`t handle going a full twenty-four hour day without doing it. She dug the razor into her upper thigh, cutting deeply and watching the blood flow. It was bleeding a lot more than her other cuts had. She wasn`t at all suicidal, but there were a million other unexplainable emotions causing this, and they were powerful.

She saw the neat straight lines of cuts on her legs, no criss-crosses, because she hadn`t run out of room yet. What hurt her the most though was seeing the bruises on her thighs from where they had pryed her legs apart. She began to cut at a furious pace, slashing deeply over and over again. Blood was dripping down onto the toilet when she heard a knock on the door. Just then she realized that she`d been sobbing, apparently loud enough for Aaron to hear. She quickly put on her shorts and threw the razor into the bathtub, praying he wouldn`t see it.

"Are you ok?" he asked as soon as she opened the door.

She nodded, but didn`t speak. He tried to get her to look at him, but she looked straight at the ground and refused to look at her brother. He stopped trying long enough to spot blood dripping down the side of the toilet and onto the floor. He pushed past her and into the bathroom, and once he got close to the bathtub he saw it. A bloody razor. He took both of her arms, which were now hugging her body nervously, something he`d never seen her do before, and turned them over. He was surprised when he didn`t see a single cut. He noticed that their was blood on the fingers of her right hand, which she must`ve been holding the razor with.

"Where`d you cut?" he asked with a fear in his voice that wasn`t normally there.

She stood silently for a long time, until she realized he wasn`t just going to let it go. "My legs," she whispered quietly, still not looking up.

"I need to make sure they`re not too deep," it wasn`t a question, it was a demand.

"N-no Aaron. No. Just please, just let it go. I`m fine."

He shook his head and looked at her expectantly. She sighed and removed her shorts. He gasped, something he rarely did, when he saw how many brand new cuts littered her legs. He crouched down to look. Several of them were deep enough to maybe need stitches. He sighed as he stood up. Rowan quickly put her shorts back on.

"We have to go to the hospital and get these checked out."

"Aaron-"

"No. We need to make sure you`re ok. And I want you to start seeing a therapist." None of this was a suggestion; hsi tone made that clear.

"Fine," she muttered, and walked past him out of the bathroom.

He followed her out.

* * *

><p>Rowan followed Aaron into the BAU, thoroughly embarrassed, with a total of six stitches on a few cuts. Aaron wasn`t letting her stay home alone. It hurt that she had to be treated like a child, but she understood why. When Aaron walked into his office, she walked past it to Agent Rossi`s office. It looked like he had just arrived because he was just taking a seat. She knocked on the open door, not smiling as much this time. She had always had a little crush on him, and now that she was back and had seen him again, she remembered why. He was handsome and seemed to be the perfect mix of caring and tough.<p>

He looked up at her and smiled, "Come in; what are you doing here?"

She couldn`t help but smile just a little bit back at him, "Aaron doesn`t trust me at home by myself, and its kinda awkward with him right now so I thought if you didn`t mind I could just hang out in here today. I won`t bother you or anything. I mean, I can just sit here and read."

"Sure," he said. Then curiousity got the better of him and he added, "Why doesn`t he want you home alone?"

She bit her lip, unsure what to say; but she had never been one to keep secrets and she felt like she could trust him. "He caught me cutting myself. I had to go get stitches last night."

He nodded, as though he wasn`t surprised. "Are you seeing a counselor?"

"I will be, starting today," she said miserably.

"It might help."

"I know, I just feel like I`m some crazy nut-job."

"You`re not. Plenty of people go to therapy. After what you`ve gone through, you should have someone to talk to."

She nodded in agreement, "Yeah but there`s a difference between 'someone to talk to' and a proffessional whose trained to work with crazy people."

He grinned. He appreciated her honesty, it was refreshing. And she was beautiful... Before he could think, it just came out, "Do you want to go out with me?"

He was about to retract the statement by saying "just as friends," or something to make him feel less foolish, but she nodded and he finally saw her genuine smile again.


End file.
